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February 19, 2004

Grats to Philip Anschutz, new owner of the San Francisco Examiner. And thanks to him for rescuing the Monarch of the Dailies from further degradation. And for giving San Francisco the chance to have a fine daily paper. Watch out Chronnies! ... Good round-up of links to stories about the new owner at Romenesko and the Examiner....

February 13, 2004

I’m taking some time now to finish an outside reporting project. Sorry, meanwhile, to be missing reporting on such cool events as are transpiring around us … For example, today, a coupla couples who got married at City Hall under the Newsom Dispensation showed up at the mall in the old Rincon post office for a lunch. Midst the hordes of office workers, friends began thrilling the happy, fifty-something, couples, and the crowd, with a capella renditions of “Teenage Wedding” … "Mother-in-Law" and other rock wedding tunes. ... Another couple toured California Street at lunchtime in a classic Chevy ’72 convertible decorated with lavender blossoms and “Just Married!” signs. The California Street cable cars clanged cheery cacophonies of congratulations on their bells. You gotta love this town.

So, I hope to back soon as I have vanquished this outside deadline. Meanwhile, I post excerpts from a long – very long – article I wrote seven years ago this week analyzing the value and the role of Herb Caen, who had just then died, essaying also an attempt at understanding the “man-about-town column” in San Francisco. You might enjoy it. Here goes:

February 03, 2004

Walked away from the tube for a few minutes Sunday afternoon … came back, saw Janet Jackson, and thought I was watching “the Golden Globes.” … Well, as surfer Matt Regan says, "what do you expect from something called the 'boob tube'?" All this huffing from TV execs afterwards that the High Exposure was disgraceful and impromptu seems to come from the very bosom of corporate hypocrisy, a true burlesque. "Tit for Tat" nips the NY Post on Page One about the im-bra-glio. If the peep show had been impromptu, if it were accidental, the camerawork wouldn’t have been nearly so good. … Actually, I thought it was, er, on a high plane compared to the advertising. All flatulence and toilet tissue jokes. And yet, CBS thought an ad mocking the Draft-Dodger-in-Chief was inappropriate? … As it happened Shrub slept through much of the game. He wouldn’t have seen it. … Cheers to San Mateo’s Tom Brady. And to the fact that not all New England teams choke. Though they all seem heartily to try. … Anyway, what was so shocking about the half-time show? Hip Hop is 25 years old, after all - “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang made the debut in 1979. …

Good line from Letterman Monday night: ``The game is interrupted when this naked guy runs onto the field; he's got like a web site address all over his body, printed on the back side of him. I'm thinking; wow, that Howard Dean is really desperate.'' …